A routine yet enjoyable affair
There are a lot of things that you expect from a Bollywood film, but a detailed exploration of the structure of stories and how they relate to normal life is not one of them. However, that is exactly what Imtiaz Ali attempts in his new project, Tamasha. Tamasha uses meta-narratives and explores the structure of stories, while telling us some semi-profound things about following your own dreams, a lesson that seems to be a new favourite topic for award-bait movies in Bollywood (see also: Taaray Zameen Par, Three Idiots).
Tamasha is arguably the most ambitious and complex project that Imtiaz Ali has worked on so far. The story structure is quite complex and it relies on visual storytelling as opposed to extensive and detailed dialogues. The story opens on a stage with Tin Man robot and a clown, with characters from various love stories and epics in small cub-holes in the background. As the opening closes, one cub-hole seems to move and the prologue starts taking place there, with a younger version of Ranbir’s character and his obsession with stories. After the prologue, we move to the meat of the story, the classic and clichéd Bollywood love story, with song and dance, except this has some deeper issues in it. As we move to the climax, the story intercuts between various flash-forwards of varying times, until we are at the starting point again, with the stage.
For the story, I think it is important we separate the bones from the meat and judge them separately. The story structure, beginning at the end and then using various flash forwards and flashbacks to tell the story are really good. An exceptional part is pulling of the Puck’s speech non-verbally at the end, especially in a way that I believe Shakespeare would be proud of. The end-reveal that the entire movie was effectively a play that the audience was watching in a theatre was quite something.
The story structure, beginning at the end and then using various flash forwards and flashbacks to tell the story are really good. An exceptional part is pulling of the Puck’s speech non-verbally at the end, especially in a way that I believe Shakespeare would be proud of
The story content, on the other hand, is different. At its heart it is still your basic love story. It even uses the tried and true Manic Pixie Dream Girl trope, the MPDG in question being the teenaged Ranbir. The insight he has and the effect he has on Deepika’s character is quite profound, a classic Imtiaz Ali device first seen in Jab We Met. However, the progression of this love story, while purporting to be realistic, does not shed its fairy tale quality which is a bit jarring. Additionally, in the middle of the story, Ranbir’s character’s mental state sharply declines and turns into an ambiguous mental illness. This illness, and Ranbir’s overall reactions, appear inconsistent with something we see both in the real world and in stories. It appears that Imtiaz tried to make it appear as a modern-day Majnun performance, but if that’s the case, it failed horribly. What actually comes across is that Ranbir’s character might be mentally ill because of trauma but his illness being a hodgepodge of various other disorders. Nevertheless, if you do not go into too much detail, you can actually find the story entertaining and lively.
Overall, the story structure appears to save wherever the story content falls short, giving us a rather unique and enjoyable experience that is unmissable.
The visual storytelling structure suits Imtiaz well. He has crafted amazing visuals, and at points forewent dialogue in favour of symbols and visuals. He uses that as a major plot point, as how Deepika’s character finds Ranbir’s once they’re both back in the country relies solely on the viewer picking up on matching a single symbol found in a book in Corsica in Ranbir’s room with the one on screen. Plus, the way Ranbir’s character moves with his hands outstretched as a symbol of him expressing his creativity is a major plot exploration done entirely non-verbally.
Since the movie tries to thoroughly explore the structure of stories as a plot point, I’d be remiss not to mention how Imtiaz explores the concept of the monomyth, a single story with a specific structure, and how it applies to classic love stories. Doing this, Imtiaz talks about Sohni Mahiwal, Heer Ranjha, Romeo and Juliet, Sanjugta and Prithviraj Chauhan and even brings in the story of Moses, Jesus, Raam, and Krishan. That part is skilfully done and deserves a standing ovation.
The music and lyrics deserve a special mention. A R Rahman’s score and Irshad Kamil’s lyrics make a deadly combination for the film, especially since the songs are there to move the story forward, not just as fillers to pad the screen time or provide fan service by adding an “item song”
The acting in the movie is sublime: Ranbir has come in his own, playing so many different shades of the same character. His role of the office drone and the transformation back to a fun loving man is completely believable and natural. Deepika has outdone herself in this movie as well. Playing a millennial, career woman, yet retaining her feminine grace and charm, balancing everything so perfectly you could swear she was her character. Piyush Mishra’s storyteller steals the show, though, despite having very little screen time. While his acting was never in any doubt, he seems to have outdone himself again however, playing the storyteller at two different ages.
The music and lyrics deserve a special mention. A R Rahman’s score and Irshad Kamil’s lyrics make a deadly combination for the film, especially since the songs are there to move the story forward, not just as fillers to pad the screen time or provide fan service by adding an “item song”. The specific motifs that Rahman added to the movie make the experience so much more enjoyable, and the fact that they are the base of the soundtrack as well makes it a double treat. The lyrics, and the music, are irreverent to the established traditions but that is not a problem: They both fit in the tone of the movie so well it’s hard not to come out of the theatre humming at least one song.
All in all, Tamasha is an enjoyable experience, despite its shortcomings. I recommend it to those who want to have a good time and love fun and commercial cinema.
Tamasha is directed by Imtiaz Ali. It stars Ranbir Kapur and Deepika Padukone. The 152-minute long film opened on 27 November, 2015.
Rating: 3.5/5
